


The Better Way

by rumbellesecrets



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 19:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10446147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumbellesecrets/pseuds/rumbellesecrets
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin always managed to forget how small Belle really was.The woman who held so many of the Dark One's secrets couldn't possibly reach up to his chin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> RUMBELLE SHOWDOWN (Round Two)
> 
> \- Longing  
> \- Dragon hide  
> \- Hard came the rain

Rumpelstiltskin always managed to forget how small Belle really was.

When he was away from her, she always came to his mind with her wide smiles and her endless ways to make life in the Dark Castle a constant delight. Since their meeting in Avonlea three years ago, Belle had twined herself into almost every aspect of his life, transforming her sentence of servitude into a friendship such as Rumpelstiltskin had never known, and eventually into more than he would have ever dared to dream.

The woman who held so many of the Dark One's secrets couldn't possibly reach up to his chin.

With wet hair plastered down around her, huddled into her cloak in an attempt to shield herself from the rain as she hurried back to the Dumbroch keep, Belle made an even tinier figure.

To anyone who wasn't familiar with the steel in her core, the sight would give the mistaken illusion of helplessness. Rumpelstiltskin sniggered at that notion. Belle was as helpless as a baby dragon breathing fire over their first village. That didn't stop people from underestimating her. The fools saw a pretty girl who kept the Dark One in her thrall, and believed that her strength derived from his.

Instead it was he who had learned about true courage under her (not so patient) tutelage.

It was an instant between catching sight of her and snapping his fingers to bring her under the cover of his magic. He had meant to catch her in his arms, but he had miscalculated her momentum and ended up with her soggy self slammed against his chest as he huffed in surprise.

"Rumple!"

He wanted to smile down at her and greet her properly, but Belle was already closing her arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss his lips and then his cheeks and then smashing her lips against his again.

Rumpelstiltskin laughed happily into the kiss, feeling the tension of the last fortnight slip from his shoulders. The power of their love swept through him, meeting and threading through the rougher aspects of his curse, taming them just as it was tamed.

True Love could conquer it all.

It could also sneak into someone's life, one moment of peace followed by contentment followed by laughter, building itself up with every smile and act of kindness. True Love could find the hardships that refined it in messy arguments, dangerous enemies striking, and moments of sacrifice. It could wait in the wings until there was no denying it, and then it could come to a peaceful balance with another great power.

From what Rumpelstiltskin could tell, the light magic he and Belle created had come to acknowledge that the Dark Curse had been born from a need for justice, and if it had been fouled by reveling in revenge, it could be cleansed back into its original form. 

Helping a father's search for his missing son was a just cause. 

Once the darkness had subsided enough to let him think of Baelfire instead of his own need for a second chance, Rumpelstiltskin had realized that his plan would fail. He might cross over to the Land Without Magic; he might even see his boy again; but how could he expect to earn Bae's forgiveness when he had helped to ruin so many lives? 

The realization had brought all his anger back to the fore. Three hundred years of preparation, wasted! All the pieces he had amassed and carefully placed across the Enchanted Forest, useless!

He had torn through the Dark Castle. He had almost brought it down to stone and dust until he'd remembered he wasn't the only one in residence. Belle had brought him to the library when his frustration was spent, and there, in the only room he hadn't destroyed out of respect for her, Belle had sworn that he would find Baelfire.

"It doesn't matter if I have to read every book in every realm," she had told him, her hands holding his in a tight grip, "I'll help you find a way, Rumple."

Rumpelstiltskin believed her. Belle had already achieved the impossible in loving him, how could he doubt her? He also could rest in the knowledge that, whatever spell or portal they found, he would have the magic to make it work.

The power was still his. For as long as he didn't give into darkness.

His success was plain to see, and he was almost used again to the reflection in the mirror. If people whispered that the Dark One could have chosen a more handsome glamour to seduce his maid, then they were twice the fools. The appearance was his own, and Belle had proved with enthusiasm that it pleased her since the night she'd come to his bedroom and announced that she wasn't waiting for him to make the first move anymore.

"Hello to you too, love," he said now, easing her grasp from around him. A quick kiss on the forehead stalled her answer. He glanced down at her with fondness, but frowned when he saw her shiver.

"I'm all right," Belle told him quickly. "It was my own fault. I was so distracted I didn't notice the weather had changed until it was pouring on me."

Rumpelstiltskin gave a little sigh, suspecting the cause for her distraction. Queen Elinor was a learned lady; he had no doubt that Belle had found a new library to explore inside the Dunbroch keep. She would have been no less curious about the forest, and surely had wandered into a pretty spot to read until the rain had interrupted her.

Without another word, Rumpelstiltskin ran his hands down her arms over the rain-soaked cloak. Once he reached her wrists, the ruined fabric had changed into the thicker material of his favorite coat. "There," he murmured. "That will keep you warm."

Belle fingered the row of scales at the edge of the sleeve. "It's too big for me."

Since that didn't sound like a protest, Rumpelstiltskin only nodded in response.

Belle raised her head, eyebrow raised in an attempt of earnestness but her eyes were dancing with amusement. "Anyone who sees me will know it's yours."

Again he nodded. This time he also offered his most innocent smile.

"Are you marking me, Rumpelstiltskin?"

He caught her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs into her palms. "No such thing," he reassured her. "I only thought of your comfort."

If there was a line of young hopeful suitors inside the keep, showing off their best qualities in an attempt to impress Fergus's daughter, that was none of his or Belle's business. And if there was a strong possibility that they had realized Belle was a hundred times worth that unmannered little beast of a princess, and his absence had given them untoward thoughts, then Rumpelstiltskin could wait for a misstep before he disabused them of that foolish notion.

He could.

Belle was still smiling. "I appreciate that," she said. "But if, by any chance, you were worried, you really don't need to be." Her shoulders lifted in a little shrug, making the spikes that adorned his coat bounce playfully. Not even his garments could look menacing when in contact with Belle. "I'm sure that by now everyone in Dunbroch is aware that I've been missing you. I haven't exactly been quiet about it."

Rumpelstiltskin's instinct was to question that, but he swallowed the words. Belle had proved more than once that she stayed with him by choice, because she loved him. "I missed you too," he said instead. "I returned as soon as I could."

"You found her?"

He shook his head. They had come following the whispers of magic that changed the fate of men and kingdoms, and found a simple shapeshifting trick instead. Disappointment was by now a familiar feeling, but listening to the tale of the Bear-Queen, he and Belle had seen that the witch who had handed the spell to the princess must have seen either the past or the future, to appear at the right time to the right person.

That magic might help them sort through his old visions, and hopefully find a path to the Land Without Magic that the bitterness and hate of the Dark Curse had blinded him to.

"I'll keep trying," he said, then leaned in to touch their foreheads together. "But first I had to see you again."

Belle smiled, accepting the depth of his feelings as her due.

Her obvious delight in his declaration soothed old wounds that had nested deep in his memory. The longing he had lived with for the whole of his life, that he be wanted instead of abandoned; the same that had howled at him to keep Bae tied to him and had almost chased Belle away when he'd doubted her feelings... It was a quiet whisper now, and one that eased into silence when Belle raised her hand to cup his cheek. "I'm glad you're here, Rumple."

Rumpelstiltskin kissed her palm, listening to more than her words and answering in kind: "I love you too."


End file.
